Mix-Match

Surely, you've heard it before, but wholeheartedly, you'd better believe that's it's okay pretty fabulous to mix-match place settings, rather than employ one matching set.  All of these old plates were ones I found in thrift shops, on eBay (search Czech plates, vintage plates, or Bavarian porcelain), or, well, in thrift shops... Seemingly random in nature, but all it takes is a united color scheme, or pattern, or degree of gilding, to pull them together.

Besides, you don't want to look like the sort of person who buys his silver, do you?

Ring It Up

According to Peggy Post (of the Emily Post Institute), napkin rings were once used informally at dinner when a household was too large to keep up with the wash. Each person had a unique ring to mark a napkin as their own, so that the napkin could be reused several nights in a row.

1. Thank god for washing machines.

2. Why'd we throw out the baby with the bath water? Cheap metallic rings and those ubiquitous wirey beaded bands are uninventive and make for a boring, repetitive place setting. A boring place setting makes it all the more likely that guests will notice bad food. This obviously isn't an option if you share my (lack of) cooking skills.For more engaging tablescapes, use zippers, chains, pins, bows, bracelets, buckles, ribbons, bow ties, or fresh flowers. Scrounge!! Hell, I'd even use trash if looked appealing.

3. So that your dinner is at least visually delicious:

Napkin rings, left to right: chain belt, vintage pin on zipper, antique cut steel belt buckle, Victorian era bracelet and baroque pearls on velvet bow, vintage Weiss pin, vintage pin on zipper, vintage dress clip on zebra ribbon.

Tablescape with vintage belt buckle and grosgrain ribbon used as napkin ring. Assorted dishes and vases all vintage.